ASL4 – THE COMMISSAR’S HOUSE
Legion attacking as the Germans
KC defending as the Russians
ROAR (G:R – 94:104) – 12th April, 2007
Played with 63 VASL Logfiles (Aug-Sept, 2007)
It is about time for a real meat-grinder, and this scenario perfectly fits that description. It has been a long, long time since my last playing of it, in fact, so long that I can remember few of the details, but I am really hoping that it is going to be all it promises to be.
I have chosen to be the Germans on the attack to give KC some more experience with defence and also because there is a slight advantage to the Russians in the ROAR rating. I am the more experienced player, but I think we are both hoping that this will be somewhat negated by the close nature of the fighting and the sheer weight of numbers involved in this game.
Initial Thoughts
This scenario is a classic, and for good reason. It has some great toys (FT, DC, 838) and nasty rules (Booby Traps and Fortified Buildings) and has a lot of men fighting over a little bit of territory. The Russians have to either stand fast and trade blood for time, or skulk and hit and run. Against the Germans though both these tactics are going to be tough, the Germans have 13x 838! As if that is not enough they also have a full Company of 467s as well as 10 leaders (total: -9) and bunch of FT, DC and the usual complement of MGs. The Russians have the advantage of terrain and a few (but not enough) Concealment counters, although thye have an equal number of troops to the Germans their quality is much less with their being 13x 447 and a Company of 628s and 458s. The Russians only have 5 leaders (total: -3) and are not as gifted with SW.
Defensively the terrain favours the Russians with lots of roads criss-crossing the path of the German advance. There are plenty of options for Fire-lanes, though those positions are obvious and might suffer from immediate attack. The Russians have 6 trenches available to them which can be used to fill gasps in their defence or to create strong-points Adjacent to hexes likely to attract German movement. The Commissar’s House (20Z3) is fully Fortified.
The biggest disadvantage suffered by the Russians is the close setup zone of the Germans. The Germans also have access to a number of 2-storey buildings which allows their potent MGs and -2 leaders a strong overwatch capability. The Russians are also forces to split their defence in two due to the block of buildings, Woods and Rubble separating the Chemist’s Shop and the Commissar’s House.
Russian Setup
All Russian setups are on Bd. 20
As usual I have noted Concealed-at-setup units in Square Brackets
Locations written in Blue
are Fortified
O6 3x ? [447]
R6 458
S6 458
S7 458
S7 (1) LMG 447, 8-1
T3 HIP MMG 458
U7 447
V7 3x ? [dummies]
W5 2x 447
W7 2x ? [447]
X3 458, 8-0
X5 8-0
X6 2x ? [447]
Z2 628
Z3 LMG 628
Z4(1) HMG 628, 9-1
Z7 3x ? [dummies]
AA3 628
AA3 628, 8-1
AA6 447
AA6 (1) MMG 448
BB6 HIP LMG 458
CC7 3x ? [2x 447]
DD5 447
FF7 2x ? [447]
The Russians have not a lot of options in setting up, not as many as the Germans anyway… though in this game (for some reason) KC decided that he didn’t need his Trenches…
The 20Z3 building is completely Fortified.
German Setup
German units are not allowed to setup adjacent to Known or Concealed Russian units, this does lessen the initial impact of my FTs somewhat.
I have decided to use 3 main lines of attack:
– The first is a straight-forward thrust down the Western edge of the map towards the fortified ‘Commissar’s House’ (20Z3). This is where I have placed both my FT and about half my force, my MMG/LMG stack is here too.
– The second attack will come from the Eastern Flank through the 20U2 building, I hope to bypass the Northern edge of the Q4 gully and thus get behind his units to cut of Rout routes and to apply strong pressure from his flanks and rear. I will use roughly 20% of my force for this attack.
– The third attack also uses about 30% of my forces, this attack is designed to capture the Chemist Shop (20S7) by pummelling the defences while moving units through the adjacent gully.
German Attack Plans
Red: First Phase of attack
Blue: Second Phase of attack
All my units are starting on Bd. 20
Commissar House Attack Group
AA9 2x 338, DC, FT
BB8 2x 467, MMG, LMG, 9-2
BB9 8-0
CC9 2x 838, 338, FT
EE9 2x DC 838, DC 338, 247, 9-1
GG9 3x 838, 9-1
Eastern Flank Attack Group
M8 3x 467, 8-0
O8 2x DC 838, 247, 8-0
Chemist Shop Attack Group
P8 (2) 2x 467, HMG, MMG, 10-2 – LOS from here reaches across the whole map and cuts Rout paths too.
P9 (2) 3x 467, 8-1
R8 LMG 467
S9 2x 838, 8-1
Obviously I am relying on some decent DRs in the first attack turn, though I have given myself redundancies where possible. If I do very well with Prep Fire in any sectors then I am likely to use some units as Opportunity Fire to capitalise on his need to expose units to stop my aggressive Movement. There is a lot of time available for this battle, but I would like to hit the defenders as fast and as hard as possible so that I can unbalance the Russians and keep them on the back foot.
The Game
TURN 1
The game starts with a flurry of German Fire.
– I am able to smash the main position (S7) in the Chemist’s Shop with ELR breaks as a result of my 20FP attack and that allows my initial Assault troops (2x 838, 8-1) to safely make it into the gully; though I have a LMG 467 broken and then CRed by one of the few defenders left. I am able to CR a 458 in Advancing Fire and enter the Building safely, but I have a lot of forces surrounding me.
– I am also able to kick off the attack towards the Commissar’s House with a reasonable weakening of his forces, but not as much as I had hoped due to his men Pinning rather than Breaking. His return fire manages to Break one of my FT HS (20AA9) and my Advancing Fire, despite the masses of 838s I have to Assault Fire with, barely dents his defences… for some reason his Russians are passing 1MCs and 2MCs with style! At least I have a bit of luck in CC with an Ambush followed by a Leader Creation dr – this gives me a 7-0 and leaves him with a dead 447 and an unguarded Western Flank.
– In attempting to clear the way for the attack on his Eastern Flank I get the majority of my men across the road, but lose a HS to Search Casualties while stripping his O6 concealment. I Break the offending 447 and the way appears open over here.
KC decides not to Prep Fire and instead pulls his men back bit-by-bit. He has obviously learned some lessons from our last games as he is being a lot more cunning in this one! Unfortunately, even though the Germans did not inflict much pain in their first turn their position is such that they have numerous shots and end up KIAing 2.5 MMC and breaking 2 MMC. He then loses another 2x HS through interdiction as his men Rout across the street under the killer influence of my HMG stack.
German Losses: 2x 247, DC
Russian Losses: 2x 237, 3x 248, 3x 447
TURN 2
My men are now in a great position to start exploiting holes in his lines and to push closer to both objectives
– Prep Fire is hindered by poor rolls, though this time it is in the Chemist’s Shop. I even manage to give him a Hero and Harden a 447 (20U7) thanks to a 4MC coming up snake-eyes for the HOB roll! Regardless of this I take the chance to push hard against his strung-out defenders here as only a single Pinned HS stands between me and control of this building. That Pinned guy is eliminated in CC (and I score ANOTHER Leader Creation dr giving me another 8-1) so the building is now held only by 1.5 Broken MMC and a wounded 8-1.. there is also another unit in here under concealment but he has not fired at all so he might be a dummy…
– My Commissar’s House attack was shaping up nicely. He seemingly had a single unit standing between me and my Fortified Target; I have 6 Assault Engineer Squads, 2 FT HS and numerous other units types pushing directly towards him! As it turns out there was a HIP LMG 458 in BB6, but he was revealed by a HS and did not manage to hurt me at all. Unfortunately I lost an Engineer Squad when they were hit out in the open at extreme long range from 20X6’s 447, but otherwise movement went well. Then in Advancing Fire my FT pulls out box-cars and was removed from the game. My shots are again poor while his is continuing to pass MCs; though I do manage to kill an 8-1 through a SAN result and eventually the resistance in the 20 EE4-AA6 block is
eliminated with the exception of the BB6 units.
– The Eastern Flank attack seemed to be starting off well. I got men behind his lines with the intention of cutting off all Rout options from The Chemist’s Shop but they revealed HIP units (MMG 458) in T3 and the resultant attack KIAed a 467 and his accompanying 8-0. In the end this was fortunate as I was initially going to send 3x 467, 8-1 to the 20T9 crossroads and that MMG could have made things very messy indeed! I eliminated a HS for Failure to Rout and can safely say that this flank is open for German business.
He manages to rally his 628 manning the HMG in The Chemists Shop, which is a bit of a disappointment and then this guy goes on a bit of a ROF tear which is even more of a disappointment – he smashes my MMG + LMG stack in 20Z7 eliminating the 467 manning the LMG and breaking the other 2 units. Other attacks are not as successful and his moves are still tentative. On the other hand, my Defensive Fire is almost useless too. I manage to get a modicum of revenge on the HMG position when I break the 9-1 leader here, I also strip the concealment from the 20AA4 position; but only manage a Pin on the 628. The leader decides that cowardice is the better part of valour and runs downstairs, that is going to make reducing this HMG position much easier. He attempts to CC an Engineer HS and suffers a CR.
German Losses: 838, 2x 467, 8-0, FT
Russian Losses: 3x 237, 2278-1 (2x dummy)
TURN 3
I go really well in Rally and have most of my non-DM Broken guys return to fighting fitness but so does he…
– At the Chemist’s Shop I am again hindered by terrible Prep Fire; not that this will stop me from taking this building this turn as my men swarm all over it and eliminate the majority of his forces here for FTR. I had 3x 467, 8-1 ready to cross the T8 or U9 bridge, but a 447, Hero placed in V7 blocked that move; instead I rushed them through the Gully and also into the Chemist’s Shop. Once there I am able to totally wipe out all resistance through FTR penalties (and No Quarter) and through a successful CC attack that kills the 458 here.
– Bit by bit my men have worked their way closer to the Commissar’s House. I am now ready to start to attack it directly as my men crowd towards it from the West. The point 628 (20AA4) breaks and this should give me some freedom of movement but my HMG/MMG nest is again unable to score any rate and misses their target (the HMG 628). I start the movement off with moving a 7-0 right in front of the building, he takes the bait and fires causing an ELR Break… but that unit’s position will suck up a lot of SFF shots. The rest of my men either edge closer using the buildings on the other side of the road as cover (AA6-CC5) or they Dash across the road into this block, they are shielded from his fire by the mass of Orchards to the West of the target building. By the end of the turn I am able to take his MMG position (AA6) through ANOTHER Leader Creation result in CC (I gain an 8-1 again) and I also have guys right up to the undefended walls of the Commissars House!
– His sole defender on the Eastern Flank (MMG 448) has withdrawn and is no longer covering the road, this allows me to move units into the area and to start to isolate him. I am now well and truly behind his lines and this could have terrible consequences once the defence in the Commissar’s House starts to crumble.
I rally my MMG position (Z7). I do poorly with my leaders MCs this turn, but the MMC stacked with them pass every time… I can live with that! His moves are an attempt to get into the Commissar’s house with the men he has left in the block between the Commissar’s house and the Chemist’s Shop – the first to try is eliminated on the street. This starts a cascade of losses as KC tries to hold the line against the German onslaught. Things looked good for him to start with; my 16FP attacks have been cursed for years and this game is no exception – they almost all miss, and the ones that don’t do little damage. It is only when the masses of FP aimed at the Commissar’s House open up that the dice start to fall my way and his men suffer all sorts of losses… The final shot of the Defensive Fire Phase is a 12FP FT shot that sends his HMG’s 628 Berserk and also reveals the last HIP (628 in 20Z4 (0)).
Russian Losses: 227, 237, 248, 328, 426, 447, 2x 458, 8-0(wnd)
TURN 4
My men rally well and I am able to maintain the momentum of my attack, his men are not getting a chance to solidify any sort of defence are being picked off all over the place.
– The Chemist’s Shop is over-run and under my control, so now I am sending men through the adjacent block towards the Commissar’s House. I am able to force his Broken units back into the small part of this map that he still controls. His two main defensive positions, (one in the Commissar’s House and one in the block bordered by the road T4-T9-Y2-Y7) are essentially isolated by my fire groups covering the road between them.
– My HMG stack hammers the Commissar’s House and finally scores ROF and a decent hit, his 9-1 breaks (he has broken almost every time he has taken a MC) and that leaves him in even more trouble. Unfortunately a SAN result is called from this units shots and that Sniper eliminates my FT’s HS – the very next shot by this stack malfunctions the HMG! Another SAN comes down on a broken 8-1 and leaves him Wounded but the Prep Fire that led to this smashed 2x 447 so I am OK with that result. The rest of my shots are pretty poor, so I am unable to soften up the defenders much before attempting movement. Movement goes well however and I am able to drop DC into Z2 and AA3 – I am almost certainly going to be able to enter the Commissars House now. He loses his HMG through Breakdown, but since it was manned by Berserkers it was going to be unmanned anyway. I lost a few units to MCs in Defensive Fire, but more importantly of my 2x DC only one successfully hits it’s target, but in doing this I have an entry into the Fortified building.
– The Eastern Flank is totally open thanks to his only defender here dying as he attempts to score a lucky attack in CC. I flood units behind the Commissar’s House to cut of Rout paths and stop reinforcements.
His turn starts off well with his 9-1 leader rallying and thus bringing up everyone in his hex.. this does present some problems to my attackers now as he has quite some FP available (30FP +3)! I get lucky as his attack only serves to cause my 8-0 here to Harden to an 8-1 and the 838 unit here passes the MC too; but my leader is Pined as a result. His Berserk 628 rushes out of the Fortified building and gets CRed on his way to enter Melee. KCs last mobile defenders also suffer a CR Pin when he attempts to Dash through 4FP -4; this guy is finished off in Defensive with a well aimed burst from the HMG nest. I have a number of really high FP attacks against the Fortified building, but they are all terrible misses. He bravely enters CC with my 838 in the Commissars House, but the dice are not coming down his way in CC and although he CRs my defender, a Melee holds up all the forces he sent into this battle, this is a huge opportunity for me to now swarm the nearly undefended building – even worse than that is the loss of his 9-1 and a HS as my CC DRs continue to run hot.
German Losses: 2x 338, 2x DC
Russian Losses: 2x 237, 248, 2x 328, 458, 9-1 (3x dummy)
MMG
TURN 5
I have few men to rally, but I am unable to repair my HMG which is a real pity. His men are almost all out of the game now, he has a few defenders on the Western side of the Fortified Commissar’s House, but otherwise his defence is either tied up in Melee, Broken or KIA.
– The Chemist’s Shop & Eastern Flank attack is cleaning up the last of his broken soldiers leaving the only Good Order defenders in the Commissars House. The units not being used to kill off Routing Soviets are being rushing the last bastion of Russian defence.
– There are few targets on the Eastern side of the Commissar’s House but I manage to hit his Hero with the HMG stack’s MMG – the Hero passes the 2MC with ease. However he loses one of his corner-stone 628 defenders which leaves just a single GO Squad in the building, thus I charge it with all my men knowing that I am going to be able to swamp him this turn… His only chance for an attack is a 2FP -3 shot with his Hero, and that misses… the door is open and by the end of the turn I have 11MMC (including 6.5 Assault Engineers) poised to jump into the building. In an attempt to really clean up his defenders I fire into the Melee which causes him to have both his MMC ELR broken (1 of these is also CRed thanks to box-cars). Rout Phase garners a whole bunch of casualties as the Germans have the Russians hemmed in from all sides. CC then causes another Russian collapse as his men are out-numbered and out-classed – at least his Hero takes a HS with him when he goes!
His turn is very short, he has a solitary 458 holding out in the Commissar’s House and if he falls then it is only Broken units standing between the Germans and victory… under the pressure of numerous Fire Attacks including a 12FP FT attack and a 48FP +3 attack there is only one possible out-come, the 458 dies, and with him goes any chance of the Russians holding out any longer.
German Losses: 247
Russian Losses: 328, 426, 447, 458, 3x 628, 7-0
MMG, HMG, Hero
The Germans control both the Chemist’s Shop and Commissar’s House
GERMAN VICTORY
Conclusion
This game had some wacky events and wacky dice. For instance we had 3 Leader Creation DRs from CC… I have never seen that before! There were a number of HOB results too… but the timing of these results was such that it did not really affect the out-come of the game much at all. In fact this was a fairly well-balanced game as far as the dice went and for that I am thankful.
This is the third time that I have played KC; he is a new but not novice player and we are trying to play games that not only give him a challenge but are also balanced in such a way that it gives him a better chance of beating me. Any experienced player will note the problems with the defence he attempted but this should not cloud the fact that in just the 3 games we have played together I have noticed great improvement in his tactical awareness and knowledge of the rules. For KCs sake, and for any other players out there who want to learn by sinking their teeth into such an exciting scenario I would like to explore some of the defenders options for this game
Tactical Discussion of Defenders Options
True to my word I did not use SMOKE, but I did isolate and expand through the city blocks; using the road networks to define my territory and force the enemy to take risks. In fact, when playing on city boards (and I got this from playing so much ABTF) it is often useful to define your terrain by the road networks, noting that their flow often dictates the enemies movements and fire. It is true that the Wooden and Stone buildings of a city give +2/+3 TEM, but it is on the roads that the real risks must be taken.
The Defender MUST consider the implications of being cut-off from the objective Buildings. KC had a large number of troops in the block between the Chemist’s Shop and the Commissar’s House, but they are almost useless there as long as the Germans have the ability to stop them crossing the roads with ease. Units in this central block must be placed to support the Objective Buildings through the terrain here having great fire opportunities down the roads…
The lack of Trenches was a big mistake. Both times KC has defended against me he has chosen to ignore these vital fortifications. The Trenches in this game are PERFECT for the Orchard area next to the Commissars house. In these Trenches troops are out of LOS from units on the other side of the wall, while still being able to affect units moving Adjacent! What a defensive bonus… even putting a Trench in each of the Orchard hexes next to the Commissar’s house would have made my job so very much more difficult.
KC’s CC really worked against the Russians. By the time I got close enough to attack the Commissar’s House I had a numerical troop superiority. He really needed to be able to stop me crossing the roads and orchards surrounding the victory building and that was hampered by his engaging in CC. CC often works in the attackers favour even if there is no eliminations as it holds up troops and stops their FP from affecting anything other than their own CC. Every time KC jumped into Melee with me he was removing units from the fight, and they were not going to be able to re-join the fight until they KIAed all Germans in their hex. On the other hand I would have happily chosen to enter CC with him even if he avoided it… mind you, the Fortified Building rules do make this very hard.
One thing that scares me as the Attacker in this game is the possibility of a HIP HS re-taking Chemist’s Shop. All the Defender has to do in this case is leave a HIP HS somewhere on the map where he can make it to the Chemist’s Shop (which usually falls quickly) in the last Movement Phase of the Russians. If the Germans have moved on past this building then they will often find it hard to make it back in time to kill off this errant little devil – if KC had done this in our game he would have probably managed to win!